voluntary work fools?

Marsha, 32, chose to marry and start a family shortly after graduating and starting work and like many stay-home moms she did a lot of voluntary work for her children's school and the community generally. Unfortunately, now that she is ready to start a career and utilize her education, her community spirit is being held against her.

"At one stage I was spending more time on voluntary work than anything else," sighs Marsha. "but I always expected that whatever I did voluntarily would hold me in good stead when the time came for me to return to work."

"Well," says Marsha, "that expectation was a dead loss."

"I'm looking for a job now and as soon as I tell employers that I have done voluntary work they treat me like a leper."

"One employer asked me quite frankly 'why would I want to pay you for work that you've been doing for others for free?'," says Marsha.

"After getting the same sort of raised eyebrows and brush-offs from several employers," says Marsha, "I've come to the conclusion that able-bodied people who do voluntary work voluntarily are fools."

"When I look back on all the voluntary work I have done," says Marsha, "I do feel like a fool for working like a slave for organizations that were essentially making money out of my work."

"Sure I got a buzz out of doing some of the work I did for free," says Marsha, "but a lot of the voluntary work I did was very stressful and like I said before it got to a point where I was getting ill from trying to do everything for everybody while raising kids and keeping house."

"The trouble with being a housewife is that everyone thinks you watch soaps all day," says Marsha, "but nothing could be further from the truth."

"My husband and I were paying exorbitant school fees for our kids and yet we were expected to put in a certain number of hours at the school doing voluntary work -- most of which was pretty dirty labor."

"The teachers got paid for their work -- but we got nothing for ours."

"I can see how employers consider me a bit of mug," laughs Marsha. "I guess the teachers thought all of the parents were mugs, too!"

"The voluntary job that really knocked the stuffing out me though," sighs Marsha, "was taking on the editorship of a community newspaper."

"This was the voluntary job that I really expected would open doors for me when I returned to work," sighs Marsha, "but instead it closed doors in my face."

"I'm still looking for work and I'm still hopeful of finding something suitable," says Marsha, "but from now on I'm keeping mum about the voluntary work I've done."

"For all the talk out there about voluntary work being a noble thing to do," laughs Marsha, "it's all talk and it's probably promulgated by those who profit out of voluntary workers."

"In the real world -- the world where people get paid for their labor -- the talk is that anyone who works for free is a mug."

"I just wasn't respected as I thought I would be when I told employers about my voluntary work," says Marsha. "On the contrary they didn't want to employ someone who's so stupid that they'd work for free."

"Even my kids have got it right," laughs Marsha. "You wouldn't catch them doing chores around the house without financial reward!"

what’s a CV?

Tahlia is 43 and now that her children are grown up enough to look after themselves she is enthusiastic and excited about returning to work and being able to build up a nest egg.

Putting the kids through school cost Tahlia and her husband a lot more money than they had expected.

"We have very little saved for our retirement," explains Tahlia, "so I'm eager to get back to work, make some money and start a savings plan to make up for lost time."

"I don't mind what type of work I do -- which is a great plus in my favor," says Tahlia, "but I'm having a lot of trouble finding work."

For starters, Tahlia had no idea that she would need a resume or a CV -- a
curriculum vitae -- in order to apply for a job. She thought only school leavers, starting their first job, needed to carry around a portfolio of their qualifications and references.

"The last time I worked, nobody needed a resume," says Tahlia, "and it infuriates me that I have to document my life on paper in order to apply for an ordinary old job."

Her problem is made worse by the fact that she has only done voluntary work in the past twenty years -- most of which was associated with various stages of her children's development.

Tahlia has the same problem as school-leavers -- most of whom have never worked, not even in a voluntary capacity -- and because Tahlia does have work experience in a voluntary capacity her resume is really not going to be much different from that of somebody who has been in paid employment for the past twenty years.

When Tahlia sat down to document her skills and the various community organizations she had worked for in a voluntary capacity over the past twenty years, the list was formidable.

"There was nothing that I hadn't done, or didn't have the capacity to do," laughs Tahlia. "But employers aren't interested in what anybody did twenty years ago, let alone five years ago, so my main objective is to concentrate on skills and voluntary work experience of the past two years."

Unfortunately, Tahlia hadn't done much voluntary work in the past two years, so she wracked her brains about other things she had done and realized that she had helped a lot of people with their taxation returns.

"From what I've read in the job ads," says Tahlia, "knowledge of accountancy and being able to understand complicated tax laws are skills that are in high demand, so I needed to stretch them out to the max."

"I gained earth science qualifications after I left school," confides Tahlia, "but such qualifications are far too old to be valid in today's world."

"I know that lots of how-to-get-a-job books say that even old qualifications have some value in that people who have applied themselves to gaining a qualification are seen as dedicated, organized and literate," says Tahlia, "but I don't think that's relevant advice for return to work moms."

"After I gain some work experience I hope to use my qualifications in a more professional resume in order to get a position more in keeping with my worth," confides Tahlia, "but until then I'm concentrating on finding a job -- any job -- and for this I just need a basic resume."

"The basic resume is just for basic unskilled jobs," explains Tahlia. "In it, I'm accentuating my people skills and mentioning my accountancy skills as icing. I don't expect to get a job as an accountancy clerk straight off, but I might get a foot in the door of an accountancy firm as a receptionist or administration assistant."

No matter what sort of job Tahlia gets -- in a shop, factory or office -- she appreciates that her ability to get along with people is paramount because she will inevitably be the first point of contact with customers. Most entry level, low paying jobs, are going to be in the customer service field.

"I gear my basic resume to whatever type of job I'm applying for," explains Tahlia. "For instance, if it is a customer service representative position, then I put telephone and communication skills at the top of the list and accentuate them. If it is a factory position, then I accentuate my manual dexterity and even my stamina!"

"If it's general office work, then I put typing right at the top of my skills list and fudge my typing speed," laughs Tahlia. "I can't type more than 35 wpm but most people are slow at typing when they first return to work and employers should understand that. Nobody is going to notice my slow typing and with daily practice I'll probably end up doing 100 wpm!"

Once Tahlia got her basic resume typed and started applying for jobs, she was thrilled to pieces!

"I had wasted so much time fumbling around looking for jobs without knowing what I was doing," sighs Tahlia. "It really makes a difference when you can call yourself a well-organized job seeker!"

She's a great communicator and has a good attitude and she should have little difficulty finding a basic job.

"It may not be the type of job that I want to do for the next twenty years of my working life," laughs Tahlia, "but it will be a start, paying money and that, after all, is my basic motivating factor for getting back to work."

"Money, money, money! I want tons of it for our retirement."

competing for community jobs

Now that Franca's children are in high school, she wants to do something worthwhile with her spare time. Community work appealed but her experience of organized community work led her to become a freelance volunteer in much the same way that paid workers turn to freelance work.


"I was very enthusiastic about joining a particular community organization until my eyes were opened by what I experienced," says Franca.

"I think too many women go into community work with shut eyes and unrealistic expectations," laughs Franca, "and I was one of them."

"The first thing I learned is that as the pool of unemployed and retired people gets larger, the pool of good community jobs diminishes and, naturally, the high profile community jobs are going to be in high demand - and you have to compete pretty ruthlessly for them."

"So," explains Franca, "when I went to apply for a community job I ended up having as much difficulty as I would have had applying for a real, paying job."

"I am not interested in looking for a real paying job," explains Franca. "I have a husband earning a good income and he expects me to be a full-time wife and mother. But if I were looking for a real job I would be humiliated to be rejected for it."

"Imagine my humiliation to be rejected for an unpaid community job!"

"I could not believe that applying for a community job was going to be as difficult as applying for a paying job."

"When you’re offering your services gratis," laughs Franca, "you don’t expect laborious application procedures, interviews and rejection slips - but believe me it happens."

"A lot of the community organizations are highly political, too," says Franca, "and I was a fool to rush into community work thinking that with my social standing I would be snapped up and treated like a queen. I wasn't!"

"Also, despite their name," warns Franca, "most community organizations have paid staff. When you work in a voluntary capacity for such an organization you are clearly defined as a volunteer. There is a clear and wide divide between paid staff and community staff."

"Unfortunately, as any in corporation, there is likely to be a ‘we are better than you’ mentality operating in some of these community organizations," explains Franca, "and if this is likely to annoy you as much as it annoys me then community work is not for you!"

"Also," adds Franca," I would feel very uncomfortable working alongside someone who is getting paid for what I am doing for free - it doesn't make sense."

"A community organization shouldn't be squandering donated money on salaries. It is a travesty of the whole purpose of a community organization for people to be earning a living off money donated by you and I to help the poor or disadvantaged."

"In return for offering my services free I expected to be accepted for an interesting position holding a certain amount of social status and power - as befitting my social standing in the real world," says Franca, "but these jobs generally go to retired public servants through the old boys' or girls' network."

"In fact," says Franca, "the whole hierarchy of some community organizations is almost exclusively filled by people 70+ who were formerly politicians or public servants."

"You need to belong to the old boys' or old girls' network to get a good community job," sighs Franca, "and because the only community jobs that are available were beneath my dignity to do - I opted out completely."

"There's plenty of informal community work out there and that's what I'm doing now," says Franca. "I'm helping people in the community as an independent volunteer - I'm my own boss!"
Labels: community jobs, competing, moms, return to work, volunteering

creative timesheets

Ruby returned to work after twelve years of raising her five children and faced what she calls 'timesheet hell'.

"Many companies these days require staff to record exactly how their time is spent at work each day," explains Ruby, "and this sort of thing was unheard of when I last worked."

"In some instances you record your time by client and the client is billed for the time you spend on his or her account - which is reasonable, understandable and perfectly acceptable," adds Ruby, "but the type of timesheet that merely wants you to record how you spend your time for the benefit of justifying your existence - or the existence of the person responsible for implementing the system - is incredibly stupid and time-wasting."

"After twelve years of mothering," laughs Ruby, "the idea of recording everything I do at work is a joke."

"Everyone is familiar with the office situation where something goes wrong," says Ruby. "Imagine how it looks on a timesheet when you have to record two hours doing something that would normally take five minutes."

"Recording the precise time you spend on tasks every day seems such an incredible waste of time and effort," says Ruby, "but it seems to be part of the new teamwork system of management and there's no way to get out of it."

"I finally solved the problem by creating a standard timesheet that I use when so many things are happening at work that I really cannot keep track of what I'm doing," laughs Ruby.

"It's not really cheating - it's being creative," explains Ruby, "and it also saves me from going insane and that's important when I have five kids to face when I get home."

Actually, Ruby’s standard timesheet - outlined below - is typical of how 99.99% of office workers do spend their time at work.

It comprises common office tasks and the time you can reasonably record for completing them.

Filling out timesheet: Ruby suggests putting down half an hour for this task.

"Everyone else will be recording anything up to an hour or more - because that is the actual time the task takes," explains Ruby, "so I always make a very good impression by spending less time on my time-sheet than anyone else!"

Perusing and responding to e-mail: Conservatively, an hour.

Answering telephone calls: Say, an hour.

Consultations with managers and co-workers: Ruby suggests at least two and a half hours.

"In a team environment, everything gets discussed not once, not twice, but as many times as it takes for everyone to get the picture and put in their two cents," laughs Ruby, "and although it sounds a lot of time it really is representative of how much time is wasted on consultations."

Dealing with IT problems: These happen regularly. Half an hour should cover it.

Locating files: Conservatively, half an hour.

Learning a new procedure or application: Ruby suggests one hour, but concedes that she often takes manuals home whenever a new procedure is implemented and spends at least three hours studying them.

Lunch: Hopefully, you are entitled to an hour.

"If you have been adding up as you go along," says Ruby, "you will see that my standard time-sheet covers eight hours, which is the precise length of a statutory working day."

"Perhaps now you can understand why everyone has to work back at night - sometimes weekends, too - in order to do some real work," laughs Ruby.

"Being creative in filling in timesheets takes some of the misery out of the task," laughs Ruby, "but it's still something I hate doing and I feel very sorry for my kids because by the time they start work who knows what the management gurus will expect of them."

"I remember work as being a pretty easy going thing," says Ruby. "If there were management gurus around twelve years ago then they were spending their time on more important things than finding ways to make staff miserable."

generic job ads

Tania, 49, is considering returning to work after raising a family and after checking out the job ads she is amazed at the incredible amount of waffle and political correctness that's out there.

"I see nothing discriminatory in wording job advertisements towards the exact type of person a company wants for the job," says Tania. "They aren't paying any extra for space on the Net -- like they do for an advertisement in a newspaper -- so they should put as much effort into writing a job ad as job hunters put into answering it."

"The job ads of my day were very clearly designed to deter unsuitable people from wasting their time applying for the job," explains Tania, "and that makes good sense to me."

"I don't want to waste my time applying for a job that's suitable for a 20 year old male -- not a 49 year old married woman with kids," adds Tania, "and I'm sure a young male doesn't want to waste his time applying for a job that's more suited for a mature woman."

"In that employers are bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of applications for every job advertised online," says Tania, "it makes sense for them to be as specific as they can be in their job advertisements -- and they should be able to do this without breaching legal guidelines regarding discrimination."

"I've seen some job advertisements that get their message across quite nicely," says Tania, "so it's not impossible to do. They don't have to cover all angles with a stupid generic ad."

"If employers don't want to hire smokers or older people or fatties -- as most don't these days -- they simply state in their ads that employees enjoy a smoke-free working environment, a vibrant young working team or a junkfood-free canteen. Sure it's discriminatory, but it's legal and truthful."

"If an employer specifically wants a male employee, the advertisement will use a lot of strong male words or company perks such as company football or golf teams -- which may or may not deter females -- and the same goes for an employer specifically wanting a female employee, only perks such as child-minding facilities and afternoons off for shopping will be emphasized."

"Except for single fathers," muses Tania, "I think that few red-blooded males would want to respond to a job advertisement offering such obviously female slanted perks. So it can be done and I want to know why it's not done more often."

"The online job advertisements I really hate -- because there are so many of them -- are the wide open ads that do not actually say anything."

"These ads are always placed by the recruitment agencies and I can't believe that any real job exists where skills and experience are not specified."

"Instead of the usual requirements -- must be able to type 80 w.p.m. or be proficient in a particular computer package -- these advertisements rave on about character traits."

"In that just about everyone seriously looking for a job is going to be friendly, enthusiastic, or have a can-do attitude -- or imagines they do," laughs Tania, "this type of advertisement must get hundreds of thousands of applicants."

"I honestly feel that this sort of wide open advertisement is specifically designed to attract a mass of applicants for no other reason than to build up a recruiter's database of job seekers."

"Yes, it does happen," says Tania, "and so does the practice of placing bogus advertisements for jobs that do not exist."

“There is a trend these days,” says Tania, “to place an enticing job advertisement and then direct all applicants to a particular website or recruitment agency where you will be run through the mill and possibly charged for services you do not need.”

”Nobody in their right mind chooses a mate from an advertisement,” laughs Tania, “so I guess the smart thing to do in order to avoid the pitfalls of job ads, in newspapers and especially online, is to find a job the same way we go about finding a mate."

"I found my husband through friends," confides Tania, "and I'm pretty sure that family, friends, community organizations, clubs and all manner of people out there are going to be ready, willing and able to help me find a job when I am ready to get serious about looking for one."

"And the first thing serious job contacts are going to want to know is what I can do -- not how nice and enthusiastic I am," laughs Tania. "So if any return-to-work mom out there wants my opinion it's to avoid any job ad that raves on about personal character traits because it's a trick to get your personal details on a database and there's no job!"

bean counters and coffee breaks

When Trisha returned to work after an absence of eight years raising children she could not believe how toxic the workplace had become during that time. She was expected to work for five hours without a break and to drink water at her desk rather than enjoy a coffee break.

"Sometime during those eight years the traditional mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea or coffee break disappeared off the map of the workplace," says Trisha. "Just like that."

"How did it happen? Who was responsible for breaking this tradition?"

Trisha doesn't know the whole story - she doubts if anyone does - but she imagines that in some lavishly furnished office somewhere in the world the bean counters and the management consultants got together to devise yet another way to cut costs and maximize their profits.

Some management guru with a camel-like liquid storage capacity suggested that if he could get by without morning and afternoon refreshment then so could staff. The ten minutes staff waste filling themselves with tea and coffee each morning and afternoon could be better spent being productive.

There were excited murmurs in the room. This could work!

Spreadsheets were drawn up and massive projections were made to see how many billions of dollars companies could save if this simple cost-effective measure were promulgated. Finally, much to the camel's delight, his suggestion was accepted. They patted him on his hump - oops, back - gave him a check for a million dollars and off he padded to the nearest bar to get tanked.

The idea spread like wildfire throughout the world. The office tea and coffee bar area no longer served as a meeting place where workers would congregate to chat, refreshing themselves with mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea or coffee. That wonderful workplace camaraderie that once happened, quite naturally, twice a day, when everyone downed tools and tuned-out for ten minutes, together, was gone forever.

Trisha notices that the facilities remain, but now they are merely places where weak-willed workers sneak into very furtively to indulge in a quick and lonely caffeine fix on their way to or from a toilet break.

"You see," explains Trisha, "it was not just that management deplored staff wasting their time having liquid refreshment when they could quite easily survive for 5 hours without it - and keep on working - but they also deplored caffeine addiction in their workers."

Any addiction - except work addiction - was seen as a sign of a weak character. First they got rid of the nicotine addicts, now they were getting rid of the caffeine addicts.

Every office had its stoics - those who could survive for 5 hours without liquid refreshment, just like a camel - but Trisha and the other weak willed workers were shamed into storing bottles of water under their desks in order to survive the drought. And, for those, like Trisha, who had a caffeine addiction in addition to being poorly endowed in the liquid storage capacity area, clever ploys had to be devised in order to get a fix at work.

The well-organized caffeine addicts brought flasks of the addictive liquids, ready made from home; but Trisha made use of the hot water facilities at work to concoct her brew and take it back to her desk, being very careful to avoid the glare of the stoics as she snuck past them.

How anyone can hate the aroma of coffee or deplore those who have a caffeine addiction is beyond Trisha’s comprehension, but maybe the stoics with camel-like liquid storage capacities are a breed apart from the rest of us.

"In fact," says Trisha, "some stoics are super-stoic in that they can work through lunchtime, too - and can stay later than anybody else at the office - and they make an incredible impression on management which, of course, is their intention."

Anyway, for someone of Trisha’s vintage who can remember the good old days prior to the 1990s when a ten minute break in the morning and the afternoon was set aside for staff to stop work and congregate for some social banter - maybe duck out to buy a cappuccino and have a quick smoke - the demise of the tea or coffee break has been heart-breaking.

With more and more Baby Boomers opting out of this miserable existence - either to retire early or start their own businesses - the functional, soul-less corporate workplaces will be left entirely to the stoics who will, no doubt, gladly accept the next lame-brained penny-pinching suggestion at a think-tank of bean counters and management consultants.

"Let's see," ponders Trisha, "a shark-like type who never sleeps might suggest a 24-hour working day. After all, if he can do it, so can staff!"

"When pushed just a little bit over some magical line," says Trisha, "the stoics might finally wake up to the fact that they are human, too, and then it will be Revenge of the Stoics! There will be a stoic revolution far worse than any revolution in history and the heads rolling this time around will not be that of royalty but of corporate chairpersons, bean counters and management consultants."

Trisha is sad for herself but mostly for her adult children and as yet unborn grandchildren who will never know the pleasure of a good old-fashioned morning and afternoon tea or coffee break exactly as she knew it. Her children can’t believe that workplaces were once so easy going, but then Trisha remembers her own mother telling her about tea ladies.

In the 1950s, when Trisha’s mother worked in a typing pool, the tea or coffee break was such a sacred occasion that companies actually hired tea ladies to serve the girls tea and cookies at their desks. Imagine that!

"These days, of course," laughs Trisha, "they would be called Tea-Persons, but that’s another story."

online job applications ignored

Brooke is 18, the eldest of three kids from a broken home, and she's eager to find work after what she claims to be a wasted high school education, and she's trying hard to stay positive despite lack of response from employers and lack of encouragement from her mom.

"My mom is forever nagging me about why it's taking me so long to get a job and start contributing towards the household expenses," says Brooke, "and she's driving me mad."

"She thinks I'm playing around on the Net and setting a bad example for the younger kids," says Brooke, "and now she's threatening to cut me off the Net - but I am serious about getting a job!"

"She just doesn't understand how different things are today," sighs Brooke. "And not only different, but a lot more difficult too."

"There are no local jobs available - they all go to the 15 year old high school drop-outs - so I have to use the Net," explains Brooke, "and what my mom doesn't understand is that employers and recruiters who advertise online are being inundated with 100s of job applications."

"What chance do I have?" asks Brooke. "I don't know why I bother but I suppose it's because it's a lot easier and cheaper than sending a job application by snail mail."

"And just in case you're wondering, I'm not missing out on anything because I don't have a college education," says Brooke. "None of the jobs I apply for specifically require a tertiary education - and it's pathetic that girls older than me who've been to college and gained some fantastic degree are also applying for these jobs and getting rejected."

"My mom can't afford to send me to college - and actually thought she was doing me a favor to keep me at school for three more years, if only she knew what a waste of time that was," says Brooke, "but I don't want to go on to higher education in any case."

"My boyfriend wants to be a doctor and has to keep on studying," says Brooke, "but I've had enough of school and studying. All I want is to be rich, but I can't even earn a bean when I'm stuck at home without a job and not much hope in getting one."

"The twelve years I've spent at school already have mostly been a total waste of time. Colleges are just like schools - baby-sitting centers - I just want to get a job, get some money and get out of here! I'm fed up with my mom nagging me and my kid brother and sister annoying me."

"I'm doing a lot of reading about what to expect from my first job - and I'm really looking forward to the experience - but first I've got to find a job and I'm beginning to believe that the whole online job market is a joke," says Brooke. "I take great care with my job applications - and although I don't have a job resume I do have good references - but I have grave doubts about whether anyone reads anything I send."

"I show my mom all the job applications I sent out," says Brooke, "and still she doesn't believe that I'm trying hard enough. She complains that she's had to raise us on her own for all these years and she can't afford to support me any longer. As if I want her to support me! I can't help it if I can't find a job. What is she going to do? Throw me out into the street? It's not my fault that dad left her - she probably nagged him to death, too!"

"Honestly, I don't believe anyone even reads my job applications. There are too many of them and most HR departments would just skim them, if indeed they bother to read any of them."

"Also, my mom tells me to get up early and get in first with my job applications but with the Internet there's no time in the sense that she knows it," sighs Brooke, "and it's a myth that getting in first gives an advantage, an edge over other job applications."

"I never rush my applications because I know that everybody else is rushing like mad to be first in and by doing so they rarely bother to check what they’ve written."

"As many as a hundred email job applications can arrive on the first day a job vacancy is posted," says Brooke. "I time my application to arrive up a few days later in the hope, probably misguided, that by then all the shoddy applications have been trashed and mine will stand out because it arrives late and is pretty good."

"I have no illusions whatsoever about the job market," says Brooke, "and it makes me angry when my mom - who hasn't job hunted for 20 years - looks at all the thousands of online advertised jobs and thinks I'm not trying hard enough if I can't score one."

"What would she know about the job situation today? Her generation was practically headhunted from school. If anyone understands my situation it's my grand-dad who tells me about how bad it was for his family in the Depression."

"I get on much better with my grandparents than my mom and I wish I had been sent to live with them after dad left," confides Brooke. "I particularly love my grand-dad because he's been more like a dad for me than my own father ever was."

"As far as I'm concerned, those who are not in the position of a current job hunter have a totally misguided and over-rated view of what's going on."

"Jobs advertised online can reach millions of job-seekers worldwide within minutes, and sometimes I wonder if any of the jobs are genuine."

"I honestly believe that 99% of job applications never get read," says Brooke. "If I receive an auto-response saying that my resume has been received, I consider myself to be lucky."

"It’s widely understood that employers only acknowledge receipt of applications that pass the resume cull and the rest get trashed, but an auto-response means nothing."

"As for online resumes," laughs Brooke, "they were probably a great idea when somebody first thought of them - and in some cases they might have been a nice money-spinner for the recruiting agencies - but I have never heard of anyone who gained a position by posting their resume online."

"And, now that everyone all over the world is on the Internet applying directly by e-mail to online job advertisements, I'm hearing less and less about friends getting lucky applying online for jobs."

"Employers do a great deal better than job-seekers out of the online job market - and I also feel that the speed and convenience of applying for jobs online leads many job-seekers to make the mistake of mass marketing themselves."

"More is not better and I always target specific jobs."

"The whole online job market is like a lottery or a magical trick," laughs Brooke. "One day an employer may pull me out of the hat like a white rabbit - but I'm no bunny and I'm not banking on advertised jobs."

"I do hang around a lot in chat rooms," confesses Brooke, "but I don't think I'm a chat room addict. Like I tell my mom, chat rooms are where I'm likely to learn where the real jobs are."

"I'm young, smart, good looking and a Leo," laughs Brooke, "and the time I spend in chat rooms talking about my job hunting efforts is not wasted - I'm confident it will pay off soon. And when I do find a job I'm leaving home. I've had it with my mom nagging me."

"More than anything else I want a place of my own," confides Brooke. "I've had it with little kids annoying me at home, taking my things and messing my room up."

"All I need is a job," says Brooke, "and then I've got what it takes to get a place of my own and a life of my own."

"I think the only difference between my family and those that have both a mother and father at home is money," says Brooke. "But my dad is a loser, a drifer and a spendthrift and I doubt whether we'd be any richer had he stayed with us -- more likely we'd be poorer."

"Anyway, since rich kids from intact homes are having as much trouble as I am finding a job," laughs Brooke, "I don't think coming from a broken home is much of a disadvantage in the long run."